Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Bristol Motor Speedway – April 5, 2019
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media in Bristol:
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you always look forward to coming to Bristol?
“Bristol is one of my favorites. After the fall race last year I was like man, I wish we could go to Bristol next week. Here we are. I love this race track. It’s one of my favorites.”
Why is Bristol one of your favorite tracks?
“It rewards hard driving. I would say that’s the biggest thing. Second of all, lap traffic is a lot of fun here because this is one of the few places in NASCAR that we go where lap traffic can’t just move over. All of the 1.5-mile and most of the other short tracks, they just can kind of pull out of the way. Here you can’t get out of the way. You have to race through the lap traffic and it makes it really fun.”
What is indicative of the racing from a NASCAR Xfinity Series standpoint at Bristol?
“We definitely have the opposite of the Cup package this year. Cup cars have a lot of downforce and we have very little downforce. They are going to be stuck a lot more with higher loads and fast corner speed where we’re going to be a little bit slower corner speed, but a lot more slipping and sliding.”
Harrison Burton is making his Xfinity Series debut at Bristol this weekend. Any advice for him and how closely are you going to be working with him?
“I don’t really know Harrison too well. Obviously he’s in a really good position driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports. He’s definitely got the equipment to go out there and do it. He’s been running pretty good in the truck deal, so it’ll be fun to see his progress.”
Are you happy with the 2019 season so far?
“I’m very happy with our speed. Not so happy with the results and it seems like that’s kind of the same story, different year type of deal. Last year, we were really fast and I crashed a lot. This year we started off really good. That was my best ever run at Daytona to start the year and then we went to Atlanta and won and then we went to Vegas and were competing for the win all race long until I crashed and then I crashed again at Phoenix. That was pretty disheartening to crash at Vegas and Phoenix, but at the same time we were really, really fast so that was good. We were really good at Texas again so it’s been okay. The results haven’t been what I want, but besides the two crashes they’ve been really good, but I need to win more.”
What was the biggest thing you learned coming from dirt racing to pavement racing?
“I think the biggest thing I had to learn is just distance racing. It’s so difficult for me and it still is so difficult for me. Going from sprint car races to stock car races, that’s just something you never learn is how to distance race. The learning curve is pretty steep in that aspect.”
How do you learn how to drive longer distances in the races?
“You just have to go through it. Now that I’ve gone through it a little bit I feel like I’ve kind of grasped a little bit of it, but there’s still a lot to learn.”
Do you ever think man, I can’t wait to get over to the Cup garage? People are already talking about what your 2020 plans will be.
“It’s cool to have people talking about it, but I love where I’m at. Honestly I love these Xfinity cars. They’re a ton of fun to drive. I sent Wayne (Auton), the Xfinity (Series) competition director, a text this last week saying that I love the Xfinity rules package right now. I don’t know if you want to call it the small spoiler, the small splitter, whatever it is. I feel like dirty air is not really that big of a deal in these cars, so they’re a ton of fun to drive and they’re a lot of fun to race too.”
Will you have a hard time getting used to when you do move to Cup?
“We don’t know when I’m going to go to Cup, so we don’t know what the rules package will be. I certainly love what I’m driving right now. They’re really, really fun to race and hopefully you guys are seeing that too. I feel like the Xfinity races have been excellent.”
Is there anything you can take from the Xfinity Series that would work well in the Cup Series?
“Hopefully car control. This year the Cup cars have so much downforce and you go to the bigger race tracks and they have less horsepower. Obviously I haven’t driven Cup cars, but I feel like they would be a little bit easier to drive than what we’re doing right now except racing. Racing would be harder because dirty air is significantly more. The Truck Series dirty air was really bad. Right now I feel like the Cup Series probably relates a little bit more to the trucks than it does the Xfinity cars.”
So you’d like it to be less turbulent air, but harder to drive with the downforce?
“I’m all for less downforce and more motor. Obviously NASCAR has been on that cycle for a while where they kept taking downforce out, taking downforce out and you know the fans didn’t really seem to like that answer so they’ve gone back the other way now.”
Have you heard anything about your plans for next year?
“No. I haven’t. It’s still early in the year. Normally I don’t figure out where I land until August-ish. We’re definitely way early in the year to know where I’m going to be.”
There’s been chatter that Erik Jones is close to a contract extension with the No. 20 Camry. Does that muddy your path to the Cup Series or is there some path that you may not even know about at this point?
“I never really pictured Erik being my hole. If you look at the Gibbs camp right now, I can’t really picture anyone being my hole because all four of their Camrys are running exceptional right now. If you watch any of the races, all four of them are right in the top five. I don’t know. I don’t know where I’m going to land. I’m just enjoying the ride right now.”
Is it a distraction when everyone starts talking about your future when we’re only in April?
“It’s cool, right? I’m honored that people want to know where I’m going to go. That’s better than people not caring. That’s really cool. I don’t know. I wouldn’t say it’s a distraction just because it kind of goes in one ear and out the other. It’s not anything that I have any input in or it’s not like I can control that. The only thing that I can control is finishing races and hopefully winning races.”
What do you think about the 2020 Xfinity Series schedule and the addition of Martinsville?
“Martinsville being on the schedule is definitely good for me because that was one of my worst race tracks whenever I was in the Truck Series. Everyone has kind of preached to me that Martinsville is a super big struggle for dirt track racers and that was very true in the Truck Series. It’ll be good for me to get seat time there before I – more seat time there if I ever make it to Cup.”
If you make it to the Cup Series?
“Yeah, unless you know something I don’t.”
It sounds like it’s a different attitude this year. Last year you were talking about how you didn’t want to waste another year in the Xfinity Series and now it sounds like this year you’d be okay with spending another season in the Xfinity Series?
“Obviously I want to go to Cup. I never meant that phrase (last year) of being I don’t want to be in (the) Xfinity (Series) because I love the Xfinity Series. Like I just said, I love the Xfinity cars. I feel like they race really well. Ultimately I get to drive race cars for a living, so that’s really cool.”
That’s a really good attitude to have because then you’re not frustrated and you love what you’re doing. What’s wrong with that?
“I don’t see anything wrong with that, thank you (laughter).”
Do you miss not have Kyle Larson in the race tomorrow after having such a good battle with him last time?
“For sure. Bristol one last year was nothing compared to Bristol two just because – I don’t know. Obviously the night race adds a lot to it, but having the Cup guys in there, that definitely adds some excitement and I feel like it adds maybe a little bit of atmosphere too. I wish we got to compete with more of those guys like you could back in the day.”
Is the Dash 4 Cash something you think about and focus on winning?
“I don’t think it’s anything that we focus on early in the race. Maybe late in the race if you’re not in position to win the race then you may adjust strategy to try and beat the other three competitors. Early in the race you’re just trying to go for the win.”
What would you do with the $100,000 if you won the Dash 4 Cash?
“Hopefully work on my future sprint car team.”
